With the popularity of mobile phones and multimedia devices and competition for subscribers, service providers desire to improve the efficiency of management of the wireless network infrastructure. One system for management and monitoring of a wireless network comprises an operations and maintenance center (“OMC”) that monitors the status of numerous network infrastructure devices which operate and maintain the integrity of the wireless network. The wireless network in one example comprises a cellular network, for example, a general packet radio service (“GPRS”) network.
To monitor and support the wireless network equipment, the network technicians present at the operations and maintenance center analyze the incoming network management information and diagnose any problems or inefficiencies in the network services. When a problem with a network infrastructure device occurs, situations can demand the network technician travel to the site of the malfunctioning device, execute diagnostic procedures, analyze the results, and determine the root cause of failure. One shortcoming of the system is a delay in responsiveness of the network technician to the solution of problems because the network technician must travel between the operations and maintenance center and the site of the network infrastructure devices to perform the tasks of diagnosis and service.
Another shortcoming of the system is that the delay in the responsiveness of the network technician to the solution of problems results in a loss of revenue to the service provider. The loss of revenue can be highly significant, especially during peak traffic. The network service provider desires the network elements to have maximal availability and cause minimal network down time.
When a network technician at the operations and maintenance center notices a malfunction, the network technician gathers information about the current network conditions to aid in diagnosis of the problem when the network technician travels to the site of the faulty network infrastructure device. When away from the operations and maintenance center, the network technician has no access to the updated information that exists at the operations and maintenance center regarding the faulty network infrastructure device. Since the loads on the network infrastructure devices have fast-changing natures, the information gathered by the network technician loses accuracy during the journey that the network technician makes to arrive at the network infrastructure device. Another shortcoming of the system could be an inability of the network technician to obtain the updated information of the operations and maintenance center from the external location of the network infrastructure device.
After arrival at the site of the faulty network infrastructure device, the network technician can diagnose and correct problems. In some instances, the problem can be corrected with an electronic update of the network infrastructure device, for example, a software or firmware update. When the electronic update can be performed from the operations and maintenance center through a communication path, only identification but not correction of the problem requires the presence of the network technician at the site of the faulty network infrastructure device. It therefore would be desirable for the technician to be able to identify the problem without having to travel to the site of the faulty network infrastructure device.
Thus, a need exists for a decreased requirement for physical presence of a network technician at a network infrastructure device of a cellular network to diagnose a problem of the network infrastructure device.